


happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light

by thatemofangirl



Series: AUgust 2020 [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Boys In Love, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Modern Bucky Barnes, Modern Steve Rogers, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Other, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Harley Keener, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Sanctuary, Tony’s still (was—is) a billionaire, lot of zombie murder, nothing’s ever beta read, separated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25722991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatemofangirl/pseuds/thatemofangirl
Summary: It’s been one year since the apocalypse.One year since the world fell into utter chaos. Bucky and Steve have no idea if the other is alive, Peter and Harley have been separated from their families, and every day they fight for their lives, staying hidden from the zombies that wander the streets, waiting for food to try to fill their unsatiated hunger.Stark Tower is the only hope for a life of safety, thought to be a haven thriving with survivors. When it’s proven that it’s not, could it still be the safest place to go with the most comfort and hope for a better future?
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Harley Keener/Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Series: AUgust 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858408
Comments: 13
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter One | Peter

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. The title is an Albus Dumbledore quote. Don't judge.
> 
> This story is for Day Five of the AUgust prompts: Post-Apocalyptic AU, and me being me, I got really carried away with the storyline. I wrote a lot of chapters for this. I mean, at least I split them up? 
> 
> It wouldn’t matter any other time, but I’m supposed to be on a schedule here! Ignore me.
> 
> Anyway, just enjoy the story!

"I told you this would happen," Harley sang as he inched closer to Peter.

"Shut up. No you didn't." Peter said quickly as he raised a makeshift nail gun Harley had made out of an old NERF gun, a spring, and a couple more basic components. He hoped he had enough ammo for the both of them to make it out of there as the four zombies had begun to close in around them, backing the two boys into the wall.

"I'm _pretty_ sure I told you that if you tried to find supplies on your own that you would wind up cornered and eaten to death."

"Yeah, well you were wrong." Peter cringed as he shot a zombie woman that was getting a little too close in between the eyes. He still didn't like murder. Even if it was the apocalypse and he had to to stay alive. Grabbing a nail from the bag tied to his waist, he reloaded his weapon and got ready to fire again.

"How?" Harley gritted twirled his shovel in his hand before grasping it tightly and quickly darting forward and smashing the head of another walker, turning his head so the black blood wouldn't get in his eyes.

"You're going to die with me," Peter cracked a nervous smile before yelping when he felt a hand grab his ankle.

The zombie snarled and attempted to pull itself closer to Peter. Before Peter could shoot, Harley swung his shovel and nearly split the decaying head in half. Peter closed his eyes for a split second and gulped as blood splattered all over his leg. The hand became even more lifeless and Peter was able to kick it off of him.

"Thanks." He breathed shakily as he shot a zombie approaching from Harley's right right through his cloudy white eye.

"I knew if I didn't follow your dumb ass, who thought he could do a secret supply run of his own with nothing but a nail gun, you would've been dead a long time ago." Harley huffed, and when he saw Peter raising his gun to take aim again, he stopped him, swinging his shovel out horizontally and completely beheading the last zombie in the small convenience store. "You're lucky they weren't Mutated, Parker, or you wouldn't have been able to reload that thing fast enough."

"I knew the door was locked when we passed by here with the group earlier. I didn't even think any zombies were in here!"

"For someone so smart, you are _so_ stupid." Harley muttered under his breath as he crouched down and pulled a salvageable—without having to dig his hand into a dying carcass— nail from the head of the first zombie Peter shot and tossed it at the boy.

"Yeah, I get it." Peter sighed, taking off his empty backpack and stepping forward in the direction of the near empty shelves.

"You do realize if you want to stay alive, making trips alone isn't the way to do it? I know for a fact Bucky and Sam told you to stay put at camp while the other's went out."

"Well, would you want to stay and listen to the both of them as they bickered for the millionth time over the dumbest things about each other? It was getting annoying, Harley. And we were getting low on buttery crackers."

Harley smiled in attempts to hide his anger. It didn't work, and instead, Peter froze at the terrifying look on Harley's face.

"You went on a solo supply run to try and find your favorite _crackers_?"

"...yeah?"

"Give me that." The pure anger in his voice made Peter willingly hand over the bag. Harley said nothing as he snatched it out of Peter's hands, silently grabbing what canned food there was left and any other food that hadn't been out of date too long.

So maybe Peter hadn't thought it through. Sure, he was being reckless, and he definitely would have died if Harley hadn't decided to follow him. He shouldn't have split from the group. He was only a kid, who compared to Bucky or Sam who were vets, or Wanda and Pietro who had been fighting for their lives on the streets since they were children, or even Harley, who also knew how to defend himself without caring about his enemy, Peter was inexperienced. He knew how to adapt quickly, and that was the only thing barely keeping him alive. He definitely wouldn't have made it on his own if he hadn't run into Bucky and Sam on the street.

Harley slung the backpack over his shoulder, ignoring Peter's protests about how he didn't need the extra weight so he coukd swing better.

When it came to Peter's safety, Harley had gotten mad plenty of times. The both of them had been traveling with their small group for longer than Peter had been, almost a year. If Peter didn't already know Bucky from working at Stark Industries, seeing him around with Steve Rogers ever once in a while, then he wasn't sure he would've been let it as easy as he was. But this time, Peter realized Harley had never been this angry. He wouldn't even say a word but never running out of ways to dismiss Peter when he tried to apologize.

Peter felt bad. He always seems to make the group worry about him. And although no one would ever admit it, he was the weak link. No matter how smart he was. Peter was better in a lab, surrounded by mechanics and chemicals, than out on the field.

Peter made use of the silence however by making sure the path stayed clear. He was good at being a lookout at least.

New York City had become one of the most dangerous places in the United States once the outbreak hit. It's densely populated boroughs were the perfect breeding ground for attacks, and within a week, the zombie to human ratio was 40:1. That wasn't counting the humans who couldn't live through the transformation or the other death tolls.

What was even worse, was that the original virus that led to the zombie apocalypse evolved over time. All zombies shared the same characteristics: black blood, white cloudy muted eyes, and a hunger for human flesh, but the Mutated were different. They were faster, smarter. They moved just like regular humans, and that made them all the more dangerous.

No one really knows how the outbreak started, whether it was created in a lab, or by nature itself, but it's uncontrollable and unpredictable. That's something that didn't take long to figure out.

All humans were Carriers. Maybe even animals were. The name came from the discovery that whatever had caused this all to happen was airborne. Like most zombie in fiction, when someone dies, it triggers a reaction in their body to turn them.

But there were also some humans who were carrying a stronger strain of the virus. It would manifest in them, and turn someone before they even died. It was even more scary when he found out that the person showed no symptoms until jt was too late to save them. Those people are what Peter theorized help progress the outbreak at such a breakneck speed. They're also the ones that Peter believes the Mutated came from. Since those original zombes had the virus infecting them for longer, it had more time to develop. And when they turned someone, the person they but got the mutated virus, therefore becoming a Mutated.

No one questioned Peter. Everyone in the group was smart in their own way, but he was the one knew the most about chemistry and biology.

Harley was more of a enginneer. Bucky and Sam had military training and tactics on their side. Wanda and Pietro were quick on their feet, had street smarts from growing up without a home.

"Wait." Harley held his arm out to stop Peter from walking. Foolishly, he had gotten lost in his thoughts, spiraling as he thought about how he endangered the others again. It was the first word Harley had uttered since the convenience store. Peter was about to ask why they had stopped when he realized that around the boarded up entrance to where the group had been crashing the last couple of nights—they were run out of their last place by a group of people who were just killing other humans for fun. Hey, it was the end of the world and there were no more laws—a group of at least thirty zombies were pilling around.

They didn't look like Mutated from the way they clunkily moved, which was good. But even then, the two boys wouldn't be able to take on thirty of them with just a nail gun and a shovel.

"We won't be able to climb to the entrance without getting their attention." Harley spoke quietly after he pulled Peter around the corner. "We need a distraction."

Peter searched for something around them they could use.

"Know how to break into a car?" He prompted, seeing a crashed and turned over Prius just down the block of the unusually car free street.

Once Harley had broken the window, they needed to find a way to get the alarm system to go off. Harley had leaned into it to spare Peter from having to be so close to a dead family's bodies, and he let out a small chuckle when he plucked out the car keys from the ignition.

They went back to the corner they were previously hiding behind. "Ready?" The car was totally wrecked, but Harley still hoped the alarm still worked.

Pressing the panic button, the alarm filled the air and the headlights flashed brightly.

Only a few zombies turned their heads and staggered to the car, but soon, the majority of them were attracted to the noise, making the coast clear enough for Peter and Harley to dash and scale the wall with the footholds Bucky had carved into the brick to reach the third story window they used to enter and exit the building.

One thing Peter was good at: he was light on his feet. Climbing and running seemed to come naturally to him, and he was nearly as fast as Pietro when it came to it. So he urged Harley to go first, staying stubborn enough under his angry gaze to not take no for an answer. He knew that if the zombies started to come back, he could climb up fast enough to get out of range.

Harley waited for Peter at the window, offering a hand to help him through and immediately dropping it once Peter was situated inside.

"Where have you been?" Bucky was the first person to notice the boys' return. He wasn't as angry as Harley was, but he definitelyhad been worrying. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"It's not cool to sneak out guys," Sam interjected. His voice was definitely calmer as he was sitting down a couple feet away from Bucky, but just as anxious.

"I'm so—"

"Peter thought he saw a couple cases of water in a store a couple blocks away. He wanted to go before he forgot, and we couldn't find you guys." Peter wasn't sure why Harley lied for him, but Harley sure knew. His voice was harsh and dismissive. "There wasn't much water, but we got a couple cans of vegetables and Spam." He dropped the bag before walking away to the other room where the sleeping bags were set up, holding his shovel so tightly, his knuckles were white.

The air was tense as Harley left the room. Bucky just shook his head and set his jaw as he picked up the backpack and started unloading it in the corner where the other supplies and food were.

"To translate:" Peter jumped when he heard Sam's voice only a couple of feet away from him. Looking up, he saw the man standing by his side. "He means to say that it was moronic for you and Harley to go on a solo supply run. Wanda and Pietro are already out and should be back any minute now."

"I know." Peter mumbled, sitting down on a nearby crate, moving away from the window so the twins would have space to get in when they get back. "Harley lied. It was all me, so don't get mad at him, okay?"

"We already know." Peter glanced over at Sam as he sat down next to the boy. "Keener covers for you all the time. Let me guess: save your life?" Peter nodded. "Yeah, you guys got fresh blood on you."

"I don't know why he does it." Peter said softly, propping his arms up on his knees and holding his head in his hands as he stared down at his blood covered sneakers. "Wouldn't it just be easier to let me die?"

"Hey bug-boy, don't think like that. No one wants you dead. Especially Harley."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not the one who should tell you," Sam raised his eyebrows, glancing over at the second room where Harley's back was to them as he sat down on his sleeping bag. "You grew on us easily. We're all attached, and would hate to lose you, kid. Just think about it."

Peter was about to repeat his previous question, but Sam just stood up and went over to talk to Bucky, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Peter gave Harley his distance. He always needed some time to cool down. Particularly when it was Peter that made him mad.

"Hey!" Pietro's familiar voice made Peter stand back up and stop lining up his nails on the ground to look out the open window. "To the _идиот_ who left a car alarm blaring, thanks for making us take a detour!"

"Sorry!" Peter called back as he saw the silver haired man begin to climb the wall, full backpack on his back. His sister following close behind.

"I knew you snuck out!" Pietro exclaimed when he climbed through the window, slinging an arm around Peter's shoulders and grinning.

"Your footprints were left behind, leading to this place. Taking you killed some zombies, because it was their blood."

"Oh no." Peter groaned. That was something they probably should've looked for as they made their way back. "It was Harley, mostly,"

"Don't worry _маленький паук_ , we cleaned up your tracks." Wanda said, assuring it was okay. Peter had finally figured out what that nickname meant, after Bucky had translated after weeks of Peter thinking Wanda and Pietro were making fun of him. In a way, they were. The first couple of days Peter was with the group, he wouldn't stop talking about a project he had heard about, where scientists were genetically altering spiders to try and create synthetic webs to be used as new armor for the military.

It was a sort of coping mechanism. Peter couldn't help it, it was the last interesting news from before the world had snowballed into disaster and he got separated from his friends and his aunt May. But now, Peter found comfort in the name. Somehow, he felt it suited him.

Peter helped the twins and Bucky unload the food and supplies they found. Wanda had gotten lucky enough to find some first aid kits. By the time everything was organized and in crates that were easily movable in case they had to run, the sun had set and the moon was almost at its apex.

Peter was getting tired, and he figured he had given Harley enough time that he wouldn't chew Peter's ear off again about making idiotic choices, so he entered the room and plopped down on his own sleeping bag.

He hadn't even been in the same room a minute before he felt a box get thrown at him.

"Ow." The word was involuntary as Peter turned and reached for the box. "What was that?"

"If you just told me about the damn crackers, you wouldn't have wanted to risk your life for them." Harley said harshly, and as Peter examined the box, he saw it was a brand new, even unopened, box of his favorite crackers. Then Harley's voice softened. "I always keep an emergency stash to shut you up when you get too annoying."

"Oh." Peter looked up at the blond boy, but he had turned back around already. Peter saw his hands were moving, and realized he was messing with an old Rubiks Cube he had found a while back. "Thanks. I guess."

"Yeah," Harley mumbled a reply.

Peter sighed before he layed down and covered up with his sleeping bag, tucking the box of crackers in a small bag of the few personal belongings he had and then getting comfortable enough to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Russian translations:   
> идиот= idiot  
> маленький паук= little spider


	2. Chapter Two | Bucky

"Have you gotten any new ideas?" Bucky heard Sam ask as he was grouping the cans of food Peter and Harley had brought back from their impromptu supply run.

"Nothing that isn't qualified as a suicide mission." He gruffly answered back, slamming a can maybe a little bit more forcefully than he should have. But Bucky caught himself, taking a deep breath as he felt Sam frowning down at him to calm himself. "It's like zombie summer camp in Manhattan. There's too many for the six of us to fight through and get to Stark Tower alive."

"There has to be some way," Sam muttered, beginning to help, glancing back at Peter who was sitting and rearranging the nails he used as ammo in the gun Harley fashioned for him so he could have some kind of weapon to defend himself with into patterns on the ground. "D'you think Stark has made some kind of robots who are fighting them off by now? We get close enough, we should be protected?"

"I don't know! I don't know." Bucky paused. He hadn't been the same since this whole zombie pandemic started a little over a year ago.

He leaned back on his knees, his hand mindlessly going to the silver ring on his left hand and spinning it over his finger. It was a constant reminder that he was seperated from his fiancé, and that it had been a whole year since they were supposed to get married.

Bucky didn't even know if Steve was still alive. God, he hoped he was. Steve was with Stark last he knew, before they got seperated.

Something SI had done interfered with SHIELD, the branch of the government Steve worked for, and since Tony Stark was under his jurisdiction, Steve had to be there for the meeting.

Bucky had hated that he had to go to an emergency meeting so close to their wedding date. Bucky had said he had a bad feeling about it, but Steve promised him that everything would be fine. A couple of hours, that was all, and then he would be back home to count down the final forty-eight hours until their wedding day.

But Steve never came back home. And all too fast, the president was ordering a worldwide lock down. No one was to leave the buildings they were currently in, and if they were outside, they were to get home as soon as they possibly could.

Bucky tried to call Steve, but it went straight to voicemail. Panicking from lack of information, Bucky decided to drive to Stark Tower himself and demand to be let in, but he hadn't even made it a block before he saw what the government had refused to disclose on what what was causing the lockdown.

Sergeant James Barnes had seen a lot of violence and bloodshed when he was deployed, but nothing he had seen could compare to the rampage he saw on the streets.

Feral humans attacking each other, their eyes glazed white as they sunk their teeth into a person's flesh and ripped skin off of bone until another victim had caught their eye or they ravaged the first one until their body was nothing but a puddle of bones and blood and horribly disfigured flesh.

Bucky knew this was more than just widespread hysteria causing cannibalism, and he shut himself back into his house, immediately rummaging through drawers until he found both his and Steve's at home pistols for safety to protect himself with.

He wasn't just going to sit there like a lamb to the slaughter, so Bucky fought. Putting a bullet through anyone's head that had tried to take a bite out of him. But soon, he realized he wouldn't be able to get to where his car was parked down the street without going through more than half the ammo he had with him, and in the hardest decision he had made in his life, he barricaded himself back in his apartment.

For two weeks he shut himself in. Every day, he tried to call Steve, but after the first day, the phone lines had become so busy no one could call, and after the second, all cell towers were down. With every day that passed, Bucky neglected to care for himself as much as he should have. He barely slept. He couldn't care less about a zombie apocalypse, he wanted to see Steve, hear from him, know that he was alive and safe.

After two weeks, the streets outside his apartment had calmed down enough where zombies weren't a foot away every turn. Bucky kept the two pistols and what ammo he had left, but he also brought along a set of knives to use instead. The guns he would use as a last resort as he decided to venture outside to try and get into Stark Tower, the last place he knew Steve was and pray to anyone that would listen that his fiancé was still there.

Bucky had learned the hard way that Stark Tower acted as a zombie crowd pleaser. The large building was still brightly lit with running electricity and neon lights because of a new power source Tony Stark had created that was self sustaining, and to the zombies, who were attracted to bright lights and noises, it was the perfect place to be.

Bucky was grateful he had been in a car, but even then, he still almost died then. There were thousands, maybe even more zombies surrounding the tower on every side. Anyone who was in there wasn't getting out, and anyone who was outside wasn't getting in.

Cursing, Bucky had turned around and raced down the empty streets and around the chaos of crashed cars and dead bodies.

But when he heard someone calling for him to stop, he did. Only because he had recognized the voice. Following the voice, he had seen Sam Wilson, a man he had known from boot camp, in the second story of an apartment building window with what looked like three other people with him calling down to him. He must have recognized the car and took a shot.

That's how Bucky wound up with Sam, Wanda, Pietro, and Harley. Peter joined their small group when they heard heavy footsteps running through the quiet streets along with a series of small explosions. Pietro had ushered the boy in when they realized that he was human, Bucky had recognized him as an intern he had seen once in a while when he visited Steve at work, and that he was only keeping the zombies at bay by setting off a series of dust bombs behind him, completely defenseless otherwise.

"Look, we'll find out a way to get in." Sam said with an air of certainly in his voice. "I know we will."

"How?" Bucky asked, his voice close to breaking. "How can you be so sure?"

Sam stayed silent for a couple of moments. Bucky knew he was the one supplying most of the optimistim out of the group. Bucky was keeping himself partially distracted by keeping everyone alive, but he knew the distraction never lasted long. With every passing day, he lost hope, came closer to giving up. But he refused to believe the fact that he might not ever see Steve again.

"Stark's a weapon manufacturer. Maybe he'll make something that's less bomb like and more precise to slowly pick off the horde safely. Without threatening to take the building down."

Bucky bit back the comment about how there was no material shipments coming in and that meant that there was less to work with. That who would want to work when the world was ending? That Stark Tower wasn't really where the weapons were mass produced. That the Tower was just used mainly for diplomacy, politics, and company management.

Just because Bucky's mind was automatically pessimistic didn't mean he needed to inflict that on Sam or the rest of the group.

From what Bucky had heard a couple months back, from a group of mad men who tried to murder them in their sleep and forced them to relocate, was that they were going to try and attack Stark Tower.

That day, Bucky and Sam had committed murder on people who weren't undead—only because they attacked first— but not without getting information as to why.

Apparently, Stark Tower had become a sort of haven. Before it became completely impenetrable, Tony Stark and his wife was offering shelter to anyone who was healthy and came looking for it. The word was he had enough food there to sustain with rations for years.

If that was true, then that gave Bucky a glimmer of a chance. If Steve was smart enough to stick with Stark, instead of trying to help people out on the streets, then he should have been safe. He should be fed and under protection of one of New York's only billionaires.

Bucky snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Pietro's voice shout from outside. It was good that the twins were back, and from the sound of it, relatively uninjured.

More supplies and food meant that they could live longer than the weeks left of food they had left, not counting the little Peter and Harley had brought back.

Bucky didn't even want to get started on those two boys. He could see right through the extra tough 'don't mess with me' mask Harley put on whenever he was around Peter, and Peter in return wss just too oblivious to understand that the added animosity Harley threw his way was a form of endearment.

Both of them had been split from their families on top of everything. Peter from his aunt, who lived in Queens, hopefully still alive, and Harley from his mother and sister, who came to New York from Tennessee on a vacation, wanting to explore a big city and see what it had to offer, not knowing that they were going to get caught up in the middle of a potentially life ending event hundreds of miles away from home.

Bucky had talked about kids with Steve, and they were planning on adopting once they were married, so Bucky was ready for parenthood, but not in the sense of being thrust into it with two teenaged boys who both hid feelings or the other in the most irritating ways possible.

"We scouted the Tower before we came back," Wanda had started once they had gotten settled, food and medicine put away. Bucky could see Peter and Harley's sleeping bodies in the other room. "It looks like a couple hundred or so died since we last looked. Like someone else other than us was slowly picking them off."

"But not nearly enough for us to try and get through." Pietro added. Of course the group knew that a couple hundred both would and wouldn't make too much of a difference. That still meant there was still too many for the group of them to take on, but if the number went down, that was less for them to kill later. As if it made any difference.

"But I think I saw something new, something we didn't notice before." Wanda continued, frowning down at a can of potted meat before handing it to her brother. Bucky and Sam leaned forward, listening intently and waiting for her to continue as Pietro began to eat. "Someone tried to shoot out a window. About four or five floors up."

"That was stupid, everyone knows Stark Tower has the best bulletproof glass." Sam shook his head and shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

"Yes, but they made progress." Wanda stated. "The glass fractured. It's weakened. I thought maybe, if we can find a way to scale the Tower..."

"That's almost as suicidal as going to the front door guns a'blazing." Bucky stated flatly.

" _Almost_." Wanda grinned, that being the word she was obviously looking for.

"Could that work?" Sam asked after the four of them were quiet for a minute, ketting the possibility sink in.

"We would have to find the materials." He started, and he could see the smiles appear on Pietro and Sam's faces, but he continued before they could get too hopeful. "But I would have to shoot the window even more, which means I would have to get close enough because my pistols won't work well long range. _Which_ also means we would have to find more ammo. And..." Bucky saw the anticipation fade with every word. "We wouldn't be able to scale Stark Tower anyway. We wouldn't have any way to get a rope or anything to the top."

"But it's something to keep in mind, yeah?" Pietro asked, bouncing his leg up and down. Bucky learned over time that he was always somehow moving.

"Yeah. I guess." Bucky agreed, pushing that plan to the back of his head. The chances of getting into Stark Tower that way were nearly as impossible as fighting the zombies at the front doors.

"Well that's a start," Sam said, groaning a little as he stood up. "We should head to bed. It's past midnight. I say we sleep in, go a little wild tomorrow. Play some cards or somethin'."

That elicited a soft chuckle from Bucky, and he took Sam's offer to help him up, grasping his arm as he stood before ruffling a hand through Wanda's hair as the four of them walked to the room where the two boys were already sleeping and settling into their respective sleeping bags for the night.

Bucky wanted to believe everything would work out, he really did, but he was more of a man who did well with Steve by his side. Without him, Bucky would either crash and burn, or fight damn near anyone who got in his way of getting back to him.


	3. Chapter Three | Steve

After years of working with Tony Stark, Steve like to pride himself in having worked up a decent enough tolerance for the man. But after being locked in with him for a whole year, no matter Stark Tower having 93 floors, Steve was close to unleashing all of his anger on him.

If it wasn’t for Stark's too good for this world wife Pepper being there and in charge of things, Steve probably would have given Tony a piece of his mind a _long_ time ago.

Steve knew though, that yelling wouldn't make things any better. Shouting his frustrations wouldn't put an end to the zombie apocalypse outside, wouldn't bring Bucky to him. Taking out his anger wouldn't make any difference.

Dr. Bruce Banner would.

For the past year, the inhabitants of Stark Tower were lucky enough to have Bruce with them. Bruce worked for SHIELD, and he was with Steve and Natasha Romanoff the day he had to confront and get an official statement from Tony Stark about why there seemed to be a stash of bio-nuclear weapons in a warehouse known to have been used by the terrorist group Hydra that had his name on it.

Tony swore he had no idea, that he didn't mess with nuclear weapons anymore and that he was focusing more on bettering the world. Pepper Potts was there to back him up with transaction histories and the last weapons shipment out of Stark Industries, which was over a year ago on the day Steve had asked to see them.

That was concerning, how Hydra had seemingly been collecting Stark weapons and infusing them with their own experiments, creating bio-weapons that could do a immeasurable amount of damage. As far as Steve knew, none of them had been set off. That's why Bruce was sent in, so he could try and figure out what was added and exactly how dangerous they were.

But he was never able to do that. Just minutes after Bruce was introduced to Tony, who was now working with Steve to try and figure out who was using his name for bad, the government had shut down all transportation, telling everyone in the world to go on a complete lockdown and for their safety, not to let anyone in or out.

Steve had convinced Stark to keep the doors open as long as he could, to try and offer shelter to anyone who asked for it, and surprisingly Pepper agreed. At that point in time, no one had no idea why the lockdown was put into place. All they heard was the screams from outside, and saw blood splatter against the blue tinted glass.

It wasn’t until whatever had been outside somehow made its way inside, that Steve realized just how serious this was. Because a global lockdown wasn't concerning enough.

Steve watched as one of Stark Towers guards, one who had helped usher people in who were pleading to be let it, had started to act differently.

Steve was in the main lobby, asking if people were okay when the first attack happened.

The guard had latched onto the person nearest to him, and bit his arm with enough force to for everyone to hear the sound of teeth scraping against the bone in the mans arm over the sounds of screams.

Being the only one there armed with an actual weapon, the other guards tasers having no effect, Steve had made a rational decision to put an end to the guards life. But when the man he had bitten turned the same way, meeting the same fate, that was when Steve, as well as anyone else who was in Stark Tower, realized that they weren't even alive when Steve had killed them. Like they had just stepped into a dystopian apocalypse novel.

The doors were then closed and locked from therein out. But that didn't stop more people from turning.

It was something in people's blood. Something inside that attacked their brain. Like a parasite, killing the host and then taking over to make it a cannibalistic killing machine.

The hundreds of people who had tried to find comfort and safety in the Tower dwindled down to only a dozen in a week. Steve had killed more of his coworkers and innocent people than he would have like to have on his consciousness. At least he had Natasha by his side, doing most of the dirty work. Out of everyone, he had both known her the longest but also least understood her. She could kill no questions ask, but also be as fierce when she protected.

After a week, there seemed to be no more turns, and whoever was left stayed grouped together mainly on two floors. In total, there was Steve, Tony, Pepper, Bruce, and Natasha as well as a mother and daughter who had lost a son, two teenagers, a worried nurse praying her nephew was alive, and Stark's friends and coworkers Happy Hogan and James Rhodes—who was there in case the bio-weapons were airborn.

All of them did their best to avoid the lobby. It had become the Towers graveyard. It would take years to wash out the blood and smell of decaying bodies.

In the year of captivity, Bruce had began to make progress on whatever virus or parasite this was. He had taken DNA samples of both the dead bodies and everyone who was still alive and healthy.

He found that whatever it was was definitely attacking the human body and taking control of it's own. He assured Steve that whatever it was wasn't alive, but instead targeted the parts of brain that held a grasp on self control, pain, and hunger.

In the year, Bruce had made a lot of progress, they were lucky to have a biochemist with them, but Steve couldn't help but to want to rush him.

Bruce didn't have all of the instruments he needed to work efficiently, and he was the only one with the knowledge of the field. Bruce was working towards finding a cure, but it was going to take some time, maybe even longer than the year they had already spent trying to figure it out. It normally took years for a team of scientists to find a cure for a disease. They only had one. It was something, but it was discouraging.

It had been twelve months since Steve last saw Bucky, the man he was supposed to have been married too around this time last year.

His last words to him still haunted Steve. The promise that he would be back after a couple of hours, then they could take the next step in their relationship and no one could stop them.

Even with all the fancy technology Steve never cared for that Stark had, nothing in the Tower could send messages outside of anyone in the Tower not connected to the Stark internet.

Steve was sure Bucky was still alive. If he knew his fiancé, which he had, since they were both children, Steve knew Bucky had the survival instincts of an predatorial animal.

He just hoped, having to swallow down the fear every single day, that Bucky wasn't one of the people who turned into a zombie without being bit. He knew Bucky was stronger than that. He had to be.

Bucky being alive was the only thing that made Steve want to wake up in the morning, tear himself from the haven his dreams gave him most nights of a world where everything was all right.

The hopes of Bucky still being alive out there, fighting just as hard to get to Steve as Steve was trying to get to him was what made Steve help Bruce in any way be possibly could, whether that be holding and managing seperate vials of different chemicals or setting timers or anything basic enough for Steve to do without hindering Bruce's research.

"Mr. Captain Sir?" Steve turned his head when he heard the young girl, no older than eleven, Abigail, ask for him.

"Hey," he gave her a soft smile, but it faded when he saw the fear and worry in her face. "What's wrong?"

"I dropped my food on the floor again..." she told him softly, messing with the hem of her shirt. Abigail had a tendacy of walking too fast than her feet could carry her, and tripping over them.

"Okay, here," Steve handed over his own plate to her. "You can eat my food, I'm not hungry. There's enough anyway." The words tasted bitter on his tongue as he lied.

Steve, Tony, and Pepper knew they had to announce to the rest of them that rations were quickly dwindling, but Bruce was so close to finding a cure.  
The last corpse he had used as a test subject almost gained their normal eye color back. It wasn't much, but it was something. They were going to try and hold it off the best they could for as long as they could.

Steve at least wanted a partially working vaccine before he and Tony had to make a decision. That they would have to find a way past the zombies that created a blockade completely surrounding Stark Tower to try and find food outside.

Steve watched as Abigail walked carefully with the new plate to where her mother, May, and the other two teenagers Michelle and Ned were. The group of them stuck together most days.

They created their own kind of family. May had lost her nephew, and Michelle and Ned had been his friends. They all knew each other, which Steve thought had to be some sort of twisted luck because at least they had some sort of comfort in each other. Hannah and Abigail had drfited toward them when Hannah and May bonded over Harley and Peter. Hannah's son and May's nephew who were the same age.

It also came as a surprise to Steve when he and Tony realized that May's Peter was their own Peter Parker. Steve had only seen him around once or twice, he'd even said hi to the kid, but Tony knew him better.

Peter worked as an intern for him, having worked his way up the intern ranks and becoming a shadow under SIs lead chemists. Steve could tell that Tony saw a lot of himself in the kid, so he kept a personal eye on him. Tony and Pepper spent a lot of time with May as well, swapping work and personal stories.

Steve was silent as he heard the usual chatter behind him. The groups trying their hardest to stay happy and optimistic, Stark and Rhodes separating themselves to talk about Bruce's process and how someone should get him out of the lab so he could eat himself.

Steve had tried to teach himself not to jump when he suddenly looks over to see Natasha sitting next to him, but the woman was always so silent that even with his SHIELD training, she evaded his hearing. Besides, Natasha always smirked proudly herself whenever she got Captain Steve Rogers, one of SHIELDs most famous agents, to flinch from surprise. Steve wouldn't want to take that away from her, she doesn't smile too much.

"You and me both know we've waited too long." She spoke softly, staring at the side of Steve's face as he refused to turn to look at her. "We need to find a way out of here. Find more food and water."

"I know." He stated grimly. "How's Bruce?"

Natasha shrugged. "Pushing himself too hard."

"You're his voice of reason, think you could tell him he could take a break fro a little while?" Steve hated those words. While everyone wanted a cure as fast as possible, his reasoning was probably a little more selfish than the rest. But Bruce needed to know that no one would blame him if he needed time off. Trying and failing to make a cure hundreds of times in a row had to be doing something to him.

"I already told him to come eat ten minutes ago. He promised to be down in twenty, but you know how that can go."

Steve sighed. "Stark," He looked uo to see he had gotten the man's attention. Steve guestured for him to come over, wanting a private conversation, and Tony stopped talking to Rhodes and stopped in front of Steve and Natasha.

"What's up?" He asked as he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets.

"We need a way out." Steve watched as Tony just nodddd knowingly. "How many day's rations do we have left?"

"Pep says about a week. Maybe two if we're lucky."

"So best to try and leave now. Precaution."

"Yeah. But going out there is suicide."

To everyone's surprise, Steve smiled. "Not going crazy there, are you Cap?"

"Oh no," Natasha said. "Steve Rogers is the king of pulling off suicide missions."

"You've got to be kidding me." Tony looked like he was trying to decide whether to be amused or scared. "I thought those were all stories!"

"I have stories?" Steve stood up and took a deep breath, formulating a plan in his head.

"Loads. Most include you jumping. Jumping on a grenade, out of a plane with no parachute, out of an exploding building...you know, stuff a normal human couldn't survive."

"Guess I'm not a normal human then." Steve smirked as he left Tony slack jawed and Natasha shrugging behind him. "Where's the storage in this place again? We have a suicide mission to go on."


	4. Chapter Four | Harley

"What's going on out there?" Harley heard Peter ask as he was the last to wake up, rubbing his eyes and letting out a yawn. He cursed the part of his brain that wanted him to stare at Peter instead out of the window, where his concerns should have been.

"Some maniac ticked off an entire parade of zombies by the sounds of it." Sam said, and Harley listened closer out of the window. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bucky next to him, his hair tied back today and his hand covering his mouth as a stony expression set on his features.

The rumbling of roars and growls were slowly but surely getting louder. Whoever the poor person was had to be running for their lives at this point. And chances were at least a few Mutated were in that stampede, so depending on who they were, they might not even make it.

"Are they coming this way?"

"It looks like they came from Stark Tower." Pietro said as he squinted, trying to get a better look.

"Someone got too close?"

"Maybe someone tried getting out."

The comments and theories were stacking as everyone lined up at a window to watch and see. Harley realized just how sick it was. They were either about to watch someone get torn to shreds, or very narrowly escape. Like they were spectators in a game of life and death. Like the Hunger Games.

Harley was about to turn away, take Peter with him and come up with some kind of excuse; take inventory or something, because he couldn't bear to see the color drain from Peter's face. He was scared. Peter was probably the most empathetic person Harley knew, next to his sister. He didn't need to see such a violent death if it could be avoided.

"Hey—" Harley started, but stopped when Bucky pounded his fist against the window frame.

"Holy _shit_ that's _my_ maniac!"

It took a second for everyone to figure out what Bucky had meant. He and Sam had the better eyesight, so they could see first.

Craving his head out of the window, Harley began to make out three figures. If Bucky hadn't said anything, he would've thought at first that they were Mutated, by the way they were a good block in front of the mass of zombies in front of them. But as they ran closer, Harley realized that they were human.

Two were men. One was tall and blond, really well built, and he carried a giant circular piece of metal. The next had dark hair. He seemed really short in comparison to the tall man, but Harley knew he had to be no shorter than 5'8". The woman had vibrant red hair, and other than that, and the dual pistols she held in her hands, Harley couldn't make out much more detail of the three.

No one had time to process Bucky's movement. Sam barely caught the back of his shirt in time as Bucky nearly launched himself out of the window, keeping him from falling to a three story death.

"Steve!" The name and the desperation in his voice as he shouted as loud as he could made the puzzle pieces in Harley's brain fit together. Bucky saw Steve Rogers. His fiancé.

Bucky normally tried to keep from talking about him to keep the pain to a minimum, but there were the fair share of days where he just couldn't hold it in and he would tell either a sad or ridiculous story about Steve Rogers, his best friend since childhood and love of life.

Harley could tell by the emotion Bucky always spoke with, that they were really in love with each other, and now here he was. Steve Rogers wasn't dead all this time, but unless they did something, he might as well have been.

Gunshots.

Bucky's yell had made Steve freeze in the street, and the woman had to use some ammo to hold back a Mutated that was getting dangerously close to the man.

"Come on!"

"Climb up!"

"Run!"

Harley joined the panicked words of the group as they all decided to hang out of their respective windows, waving their arms to better get the trio on the grounds attention.

They all knew how much Steve meant to Bucky, and they knew just how hard Bucky would take it if he got so close to being reunited just to watch him die right in front of him.

Bucky was close to tears, on the verge of jumping out to try and help, but Sam held him back. Three people climbing up their makeshift climbing wall was risky. Making it four, they might not all make it up in time.

Harley saw Peter move from his side, and before he could ask, Peter had come back with his NERF nail gun, aiming it out of the window and starting to shoot the best he could.

Harley thought about protesting against it, in case he hit Steve or the other two peoole he was with, but after the first three shots, Harley saw that Peter hadn't missed a zombie target. Taking out the ones closest to the trio.

"How do we get up? There's no ladder!" The man with the dark hair called back. They were getting closer now. Squinting, Harley could see he looked familiar.

"There's grips! Just climb!" Bucky's voice was so heavily layered with multiple different emotions. Panic, fear, relief. A more extreme and justified version of the emotions Harley feels every time Peter puts himself in a dangerous situation and barely gets out alive.

Harley watched as Steve pushed the other man forward, telling him to go first as the woman and Peter kept firing at the zombies, doing their best to hold them back. But there were over a hundred and both Peter and the woman were bound to run out of ammo. Harley just hoped that the three of them made it up before they ran out of ammunition.

Sam helped the dark haired man through his window and Harley heard the woman shout for Steve to go next, resulting in Bucky hopping to Sam's window and instead hanging out of that one.

Once Steve was halfway up, the woman followed behind him, getting out of reach just in time as a Mutated tried to jump for her.

Everyone retreated from the windows as Bucky grasped Steve's hand and basically pulled him the rest of the way up and in. Harley knew Bucky was strong, but Steve looked like he weighed two hundred pounds easily.

"Mr. Stark?" Harley focus snapped back to Peter as he spoke, and then as he glanced at the man, he realized it really was none other than Tony Stark himself.

Stark smiled. "Hey kid," he grasped Peter's shoulder, and Harley could see relief flood through him too. He knew Peter had an internship at Stark Industries, but he didn't realize he knew the CEOs husband personally.

The redheaded woman was silent as she oulled herself through the window, Sam quietly asking if she was okay to which she gave a tense nod before everyone had turned to Steve and Bucky.

No one had seen Bucky cry until just now, as he enveloped Steve in a tight hug, the silver band on his left hand glinting against the light.

"Buck, I'm all—" Bucky cut him off with a kiss, one Harley knew he had been waiting to do for an entire year, filled with want and need and just proof that Steve was a tangible being in his arms.

"You're okay," Bucky breathed out.

" _You're_ okay. You're _alive_!" Steve pushed Bucky's hair away from his face. "I was so scared— I knew you were alive!"

Everyone gave them their moment, but the dark reminder of why they were separated and why they were there making itself known as Natasha cleared her throat.

"It's amazing and all that you guys are here, but other than Steve...who are you?" he directed to the woman. "And what are you doing here?" That last question Sam directed more towards Stark, and Steve and Bucky seperated. They still held tight onto each other's hands though.

"Well, _Steve_ decided to go all Moses and part the Red Sea of nasties with that makeshift shield of his by barreling through with us hot on his tail so we could get out of Stark Tower." Stark spoke first, attention shifting to him.

"Red, white, and blue. How patriotic." Harley pointed out. Steve just shrugged.

"My dad went through a phase." Stark said as an explanation.

"Wait," Wanda stepped forward. "You guys left Stark Tower? Why?"

The woman spoke up. "We need food. There isn't many of us, but we're bound to run out."

Harley felt his gut drop. This entire time, they were trying to get _into_ Stark Tower. It was supposed to be a haven. Survivors inhabiting it's floors, enough food to last a good couple of years.

He realized that's what they got for taking the word of some crazy men who tried to murder them.

"How many of you are there?" Sam asked and the group, now up to nine, gravitated away from the windows, where just below, there was a mass of angry zombies trying to find their way up.

Harley noticed Peter was staying pretty close to him, less than an arms length away. He wondered if that was a conscious decision or not. Whichever it was, Harley couldn't help but to like the closeness. It wasn't like he was going to tell Peter that though.

"Your aunt." Tony said instantly, grabbing Peter's attention.

"She's alive?" He asked softly, his voice filled with disbelief.

"Her and your friends, Michelle and Ned?"

"Oh my God," Harley held his breath when Peter reached out and grabbed his arm. It took everything he had to keep his cool, even if his heart rate picked up.

"There's only a handful of us. Other than them, there's Dr. Bruce Banner," Harley heard of him. He made a scientific discovery in the field of gamma radiation. "He's working on a cure. Stark's friends, the head of security at the Tower, and Colonel James Rhodes of the Air Force. And—"

"You look familiar." Stark interrupted the woman, and it took Harley a moment to realize he was talking to him.

"What?"

"Sorry Natasha, but it's been bugging me. Hey kid, what's your name?"

"Oh." Harley shifted his stance when Peter let go of his arm. "You came by my school once in Tennessee. Presenting something SI was producing to help fund schools in need."

"You were that kid that found me after class and kept asking questions, weren't you?" Harley was surprised. He didn't expect Tony Stark to remember him, it was five years ago. "Harley, right?"

"Yeah." He answered slowly.

"You're a long way from Tennessee, kid."

"Yeah, well, summer vacation gone wrong." Tony paused, realization dawning on his face. "What?"

"Keener?" Everyone was quiet. "Wait- Hannah and Abigail Keener. Are they—"

"My mom and sister are with you?" Harley asked immediately. The same relief had hit him full force. He had long given up hope his family was alive. When he got seperated from them, attacks were happening every step he took. They wound up running in different directions, it being too dangerous for them to try and get to where he was trapped. He told them to save themselves.

"Would you look at that?" Tony said with a light chuckle.

"This couldn't have just been coincidence." Wanda stated.

"Triple reunion. Nice."

"If we can figure out a way to get back inside." Natasha broke the atmosphere of hope. "I'm sorry to be the bearer or bad news, but we left to try and find food. We didn't really devise a plan to get back inside either."

"And now our exit is surrounded as well." Pietro peered out of the window, grimacing at the sight.

Harley's mind was racing. Abigail was alive. His mom was alive. Peter's aunt was alive. They were trying to get into Stark Tower before because they though it was a utopia, but now, he wanted to get in because his family was there. They've been there, the entire time. Peter's family and friends were there. A _cure_ was being formed there.

Stark Tower had running electricity, water. The only thing they were missing was food. So, it wasn't a place where hundreds survivors thrived, but it was the next best thing. If they could find a way to get back in, it would be amazing. More than amazing.

"We have some food, but it's only enough to feed the six of us for a month maybe." Bucky guestured to the crates in the corner.

"So then we find more food." Harley said firmly. He felt everyone's eyes on him. "We find more food, and then we find a way into the Tower.

"And how do we do that?"

Harley paused, glancing around at the people standing in the room, all waiting for his answer.

"As a team."


	5. Chapter Five | Bucky

"Okay, so we don't have enough long range weapons for all of us." Steve began, the group peering down at where he had sketched a rough map of Midtown Manhattan. Only from Stark Tower to where Bucky and the rest of the group were stationed. "If we try to get back into the Tower, we'll be overwhelmed, even if all of us fight."

"So we need to find another way to get inside." Tony shrugged and Bucky frowned. "Easy."

"No. Not easy." He leaned back in his seat. "We've been trying to find a way in for a year now. We can't figure out a distraction big enough, and we were always too small to try and fight through."

"Well, there's nine of us now," Tony offered.

"No." Steve stated firmly. "Let's save fighting through as a last resort. We'll find another way." Bucky watched as Steve sighed and shut his eyes. Since Steve came back, he never let the man out of his sight for longer than a couple of minutes at a time. They had been apart for too long, Bucky swore he had developed separation anxiety within minutes.

"Maybe we should try and find food first." Natasha prompted.

"Right." Steve nodded his head. "We don't want to be gone too long. We already put everyone back at the Tower into a state of worry. We could keeo trying to form a plan to get back inside on our way."

"Sure. Okay. Well," Sam sighed. "First we need a plan of how we're avoiding those zombies down there. Pietro, you said there were five Mutated?"

"You call them Mutated? I was just gonna coin the name 'Supah Zombs'." Bucky had no idea how Steve worked with this man. "No one? Okay, Mutated it is."

"About five. Maybe more." Pietro said as Steve folded up the map and tucked it into his back pocket.

"There's no other exits?" Steve asked, glancing at Sam before catching Bucky's eyes.

"We boarded up the windows and barricaded the doors the day we got here. You know, protection against zombies and murderous psychopaths alike."

"What?"

"That's a story for later." Bucky said dismissively. "There's a back door on the other side of the building. We can hope they didn't surround and go out that way."

Wanda stood up and walked to the window. "It looks like they're all concentrated on this side. They know we're here, and they probably locked in on our scents now. Chances are unless we move quickly and get far enough away, they'll track us. Which also means we should be safe when we come back. Should."

"Anyone know where the nearest store is?"

"We went out yesterday actually." Pietro, stood up and grabbed a couple of empty backpacks. "There was still a decent amount of stuff on the shelves, hopefully it's still there." Then he paused. "You didn't bring any bags?"

"Steve works on instinct and little thought." Tony immediately blamed. There was a level in which Bucky couldn't even argue with that.

Harley sighed. "It'll be fine. We'll find some more."

"So, the plan: find more food, come back here to take a break. Devise a way to get into Stark Tower, load all the food and execute said plan." Sam summed up, getting nods from everyone around the room. "Vague. Perfect."

Pietro tossed a backpack to Steve and slung the other one over his shoulder. "Shall we?"

Bucky led everyone through the halls of the old office building and Steve helped him move the barricade in front of the stairwell before everyone descended to the first floor.

Peter, Harley, and Tony talked lightly, asking questions about their family. So did Natasha, Pietro, and Wanda. Bucky could almost believe the way they made conversation easily, that they knew each other too. It was insane how everyone seemed to be connected in one way or some other.

It was darker on the first floor, the windows having been boarded up, but since it was still day out, enough sunlight shone through the cracks for the team to see where they were going.

Suddenly, a loud crunch rang out, and everyone thought that somehow a zombie had gotten through, but when their eyes settled on Peter, they calmed themselves.

"What?" The boy asked as he chomped down on a cracker. "I got hungry. Sorry."

It took a little effort to dislodge the desks and chairs Bucky and Sam had previously shoved into the space, but once they did, Bucky made sure everyone had some sort of weapon—Harley with his shovel, Peter with his nail gun, Sam was pretty good with a bat, Pietro and Wanda still had Bucky's knives from when they went out yesterday, and Bucky had his pistols. He gave one to Steve, who was still carrying around the large sharp metal logo like a shield. He noticed it had some black blood along the edge, like he had already attacked a zombie with it, but he wanted him to have another weapon just in case. Natasha had given one of her guns to Tony, who had apparently came unarmed, despite his protests that he had a way of defending himself if he needed too, and she had a thin metal garrote— before he opened the door and led everyone outside.

The coast was clear, and Bucky let Wanda and Pietro take the lead since they were the last people to go to the market. Bucky fell into step with Steve and began to talk.

"The second we're safe and settled, we're getting married." Bucky stated, making the man look at him and a smile spread across his lips. "I don't even care if it's only me, you and the officiant. We're tyin' the knot."

"I'm not sure if we even have an officiant at the Tower. But today's been full of surprises," Steve laced his fingers between Bucky's. "Hopefully we'll get lucky."

"And if we find one, we should get a cat."

"What?"

Bucky let out a soft chuckle. "I feel like we should get a cat."

"As long as I'm with you, we can do whatever you want." Steve squeezed Bucky's hand. "I'm just happy you survived. I don't know what I would do if I had to kill you if you were a zombie."

"Hey, we promised til the end of the line. I would've been very disappointed if we died without each other."

"Because that's our relationship goals."

"You bet, Rogers,"

The nine of them walked for what felt like a half hour at most, before the twins stopped them in front of a large supermarket.

Bucky didn't like how uninviting it looked with no electricity. Going to store was already a small fear of his _before_ the apocalypse.

"Hey guys, wait," Bucky held up a hand when he saw the door were propped open. "Wands, you or Pietro didn't do that, did you?"

"No." She said with a frown.

"Stay alert," Steve commanded, staying by Bucky's side as they both of them stepped in first.

The smell of rancid meat filled the air, and nearly everyone crinkled their noses from the smell. It was eerily quiet, and their footsteps echoed loudly through the aisles as they split up in groups of three to search quicker.

"We're not alone!" Bucky heard Natasha shout through the store before the squelch of her decapitating a zombie made Bucky's senses heighten even more.

He shoved as much of the rest of the shelf into his bag before zipping it up and joining Steve at the end of the hall, who had punched a zombie in the face. Bucky rolled his eyes, but his fiancé was quick to put a bullet into its head next.

They worked in sync, watching each other's backs as they continued to search the store. There were a couple of bags hanging on display, and Steve grabbed them, piling Powerade bottles into it before slinging it over his shoulder.

A stifled scream carried through the air before the soft 'pew' of Peter's nail gun went off. So that was at least three zombies.

"Everyone good?" Bucky called after a couple minutes of silence, and after hearing eveyone sound off, he ordered for everyone to just take what they had and leave.

Regrouping in the parking lot, Bucky noticed that alonside Steve, Sam, Harley, and Tony had found some kind of bag or carrying device to store food. They had gotten really lucky to find so much food, Bucky just hoped he wasn't jinxing it by praying that luck to carry over.

There was a little bit more complaining on the trip back, mainly from Sam and Pietro from saying they took too many heavy cans, but it was all in good jest.

Everyone was in a semi-happy mood, joking, and even laughing together. Bucky even let himself enjoy the moment, walking by Steve's side again, and almost forgetting what they were doing and what had happened to the world around them. It just seemed like he was spending time with family and friends.

Back at the office building, Peter skipped in front of the group to open the door, large smile on his face from a joke Harley had told him.

But just as Bucky was about to follow him in, Peter slammed the door shut again, his face going white.

"Not safe!" He said instantly. "There's a _lot_ in there!"

"What the hell? How did they get in?" Bucky asked, his voice near a growl.

"Doesn't matter." Natasha spoke up, her voice had an edge sharp enough it could've cut someone. "Looks like we're in for a fight."

Bucky saw Harley instictly step towards Peter, holding his shovel out in preparations to swing as at least tweny zombies from either side swarmed from the building, forcing the group to retreat back down the street they came from.

It was really creepy, how they didn't start making any noise until they found prey. The nine stood their ground until a few Mutated made an appearance, breaking away from their fellow undead and gnashing their teeth as they raced towards them.

"Run!" Pietro had shouted, and that just what they did.

Bucky's heart had begun to hammer in his chest. He just got Steve back. He wasn't going to lose him this quickly, not this way. He wasn't going to lose anyone.

Pressure was on him when he realized that the group had been following him, wherever he turned. He was scared he might lead them somewhere unsafe. Bucky didn't know much about Manhattan, Brooklyn was the borough he knew inside and out.

"Get off!" Bucky heard Stark exclaim, and turning his head, he saw him wrestling with a Mutated who had caught up and grabbed his arm.

Tony hit it with the butt of Natasha's pistol, but it wasn't hard enough to do any real damage. Both Bucky and Sam were about to turn back and help, when suddenly an arrow whizzed through the air and pierced the Mutated's eye, making it let go of Tony and drop dead on the pavement.

Even though they shouldn't have, the group paused to find the archer. Bucky saw about a building in front of him, a man with dirty blond hair holding a bow and notching another arrow perched on the corner of it's roof. Natasha smirked.

"I see you got my distress signal I sent out a while ago." She called.

"What are you talking about?" The man picked off another Mutated. "I got _all_ of the distress signals." He then grumbled something under his breath. "Now come on! Hope you all can climb."

Bucky then saw a woman appear by the mans side with dark hair, a baby carrier holding a baby no older than a year against her chest. She threw down a rope, and Bucky directed the group that way. He wasn't sure who they were, but they were the groups best bet of getting to safety at the moment.

He made sure Steve went first, his steely gaze stopping any protests before they could start. There wasn't any time to take turns, so whoever got there first immediately scrambled up.

"Climb!" It was a little surprising to hear Harley scream at him from a couple of yards behind Bucky. He hated that the two teenagers were the last two, and that all of the adults went first, but Peter and Harley seemed to be a force to be reckoned with as they fought side by side, shovel and nail gun.

"Bucky!" Steve calling him was what made Bucky being to climb.

Reaching the roof, Bucky saw that it wasn't just the man and what Bucky assumed to be his wife and child. There were two other children up there, a gil and boy. Had he really brought his entire family into the heart of the most dangerous city of New York? All for what? Because Natasha sent out a djstress signal?

"Harley! No!" Peter screaming made everyone go back to the edge.

Peter had been halfway up the rope, but he was gazing down at where Harley was still fighting zombies. With only his shovel, while he was swinging kill shots every time, black blood splattering all over his face and shirt, he was quickly becoming overwhelmed. The archer was doing his best to help him, sending down three arrows at a time, each one hitting a target. If Harley wasn't in serious danger, Bucky would have taken a moment to admire the mans skills.

"Climb Peter!" Harley grunted out. "Get up to the roof! They need you more than me!"

"Just run! You'll make it!" Peter didn't climb an inch, and instead just hung there. Bucky could see that they boys arms were started to shake from holding up his weight.

"Get to the Tower for me?" Harley stopped a split second to send a weak smile to Peter.

"No!" Bucky knew what Harley was doing. And so did Peter.

"Don't do it!" Bucky had known that look on Peter's face. He's seen it countless times in the mirror.

That was the look of a person who would do anything for the person they loved.

It had to hurt as Peter let himself slide down the rope, but he didn't let the pain show. When he was near the end, Bucky watched in horror as the boy kicked off the building, and gaining momentum, he swung towards Harley.

Bucky, as well as everyone else, was scared Peter wouldn't be able to do it. He didn't necessarily look strong, but with one hand, he was gripping the rope as tight as he could, and with his other, he grabbed onto Harley's arm.

"Pull them up!" Bucky demanded, being the first to grab the rope and trying to get enough traction on the roof to keep his footing. "Come on, pull them the hell up!"

Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Tony were the firsts to get behind Bucky, and within a minute, hearing Peter groaning in pain as he held both his and Harley's weight, Bucky let go to pull them onto the roof.

Peter collapsed and sat down the second he was with the rest. His breathing was shallow as he toughed through what had to be massive amounts of pain from pulling a stunt like that.

Harley just gulped, his arms shaking not from exertion, but from fear. He was going to sacrifice himself for Peter. He was going to die for him. But Peter wouldn't let him.

"We don't trade lives."


	6. Chapter Six | Peter

Peter couldn't even to begin to sort his thoughts as he paced the ground of the new building the archer and his family had led them into.

He felt like he wanted to throw up, hit something, and break down sobbing all at the same time.

Everyone had gave him space as they went with the new family to ask questions and reformulate. Peter knew they couldn't go back to their old office building, he had seen the entire first floor overrun. It was getting dark out, and no one had any flashlights. They wouldn't be able to see their enemy even if they fought. So the food they had stocked there would have to stay there for the time being.

His hands hurt. They had serious rope burn, chafed and raw, but he continued to run them through his hair. It was one of his main stress relievers since he couldn't busy himself with creating different chemical formulas.

He wasn't sure how long Harley had been standing in the doorway, but Peter didn't know he was there until he had turned around and saw the blond boy staring at him, an apology in his eyes.

"Go away." Peter hadn't really meant it though. He wanted to yell at Harley, but at the same time he wanted to hug him and never let him go.

"Peter—" Harley had begun to walk forward, but stopped.

Peter had wanted to control his temper, but hearing his name just set him off and he watched as Harley's eyes widened as he stormed towards him. Peter was never one to let his anger take control of him, but that was the main emotion that seemed to be coursing through him.

"Why would you _do_ that?!" Peter poked Harley in his shoulder. "You would've _died!_ " This time he used both of his hands and gave Harley a decent shove, pushing the other boy a couple of inches away.

"Oh, it doesn't feel good, does it?" Harley rose his voice as well. Peter knew it was justified, and it felt like a punch to the gut. "Thinking I was gonna die? Now you know how I felt every time _you_ got yourself into a sticky situation and nearly got yourself killed!"

"I never willingly stayed in a death trap!" Peter countered.

"All right, if you're gonna take that road, what's something else you never did then?"

Peter could feel he was wearing his anger in his face as heat rose to his cheeks. His fists were balled tightly, and he wouldn't be surprised if Harley thought he was about to punch him for trying to sacrifice himself. But instead, Peter reached forward and grabbed Harley's face and brought it to his, connecting their lips in a kiss he had contained himself from doing until this moment, where he had the loosest grip on his self control.

Before Harley could react though, Peter pulled back. He wasn't sure if that was the best thing to do, but when he saw Harley's hands were mid-way to pull Peter closer, he felt a little better. At least now Peter had clarity about the confusing conversation he had with Sam the day he went out on his own.

"You—" Harley began to smile and was about to speak, but when he opened his eyes and saw Peter's expression frozen, he followed Peter's gaze and turned around.

Peter had felt eyes on him, and was then put into one of his most embarrassing moments as he saw Sam, Pietro, and Tony standing in the doorway.

"About damn time," Sam rolled his eyes. "Come on, you need to hear this."

Pietro snickered before turning to follow Sam, and Peter glared at the back of his head before his gaze shifted to Tony. "You could've told me. I would have stopped trying to set you up with the intern in the Engineering wing." Then he smiled, guesturing for the two boys to follow him. "You should meet out newest members."

Peter envied how Harley hadn't seemed the slightest bit phased, and how Peter seemed to be emanating the embarassment for the both of them as he watched him walk with him to where the rest of the group was with a large grin on his face.

Peter hoped Harley knew he was still mad. The maddest he's ever been in his life.

It was crazy how fast Sam or Pietro must have shared the news, because the second Peter and Harley stepped into the room, it erupted into applause and cheers. Even the archer and his family clapped. Had everyone really saw how they felt about each other and just waited for it to happen?

Peter just took a seat. The teasing was going to be never ending now, he might as well begin to get used to it.

"Peter, this is Clint Barton," Pietro introduced him. "His wife Laura, and his kids Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel Pietro." He finished proudly.

"Hey, don't make me regret naming my son after you." Clint warned.

"You wouldn't, old man." Pietro laughed, his sister holding in laughter of her own.

"You guys know each other?" Steve was the one to ask the question.

"This brat saved my life on a mission once. Now he thinks I owe him everything." Clint chuckled, twirling an arrow between his fingers like it was a drumstick.

"Hey, everyone," Peter gave the Bartons a small wave and got smiles and waves in return.

"That was really brave of you Peter, what you did," Laura stated softly, glancing over at Harley. That made his smile falter, as Peter could only imagine he though about the events of just a twenty minutes ago.

"Thanks," Peter said, the room falling silent again.

"So," Tony was the first to speak up. "Bow and arrows? Very Robin Hood of you."

"Gets the job done. We live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Gotta know how to hunt." Clint answered.

"Plus, Clint used to be a SHIELD agent." Natasha added.

"Apparently I still am. I'm never gonna be able to retire, am I? This time, the literal apocalypse happened. I just wanted to sit back, eat sandwiches, drink coffee, and watch my kids."

"If you live in the middle of nowhere, you should have been safe. Why did you leave?" Peter asked.

"Natasha sent a message, saying that she and others were trapped in Stark Tower. At least she finally acknowledged that sometimes I have the better mind when it comes to solving problems." Clint explained. "But it looks like you found a way out. Still saved your ass though."

"Yeah, but now we have another problem." Natasha said as Clint reached into a bag by his side and pulled out an apple.

"Oh my God, is that fresh fruit?" Tony interjected before Natasha could continue. "Dammit, when banks go back up, I'll pay you a thousand bucks for that apple."

Clint just chuckled, tossing the red apple to Tony before pulling another one out. "I'll hold you to that Stark. I got plenty, anyone else want one?"

"If you're giving them out for free, yes." Peter nearly pleaded, catching an apple of his own. Clint circulated his bag of groceries, and when everyone had taken a fruit, Sam taking an orange as well, Natasha sighed and kept going.

"We need a way to get back inside. If you haven't noticed, Stark Tower is a beacon for the zombies. Nearly every one in Manhattan is creating a barricade around all of the entrances."

"So why not just fight through? I've seen you fight through thousands of people before and get out alive."

Peter watched as Natasha just rolled her eyes, wiping sweat from her forehead. "This is different. Before, those guys were just trying to kill me. Not rip me apart."

"I mean, it's worth a shot, right?" Steve said quietly. "There's ten of us capable of fighting. No offense, Laura." The woman just shook her head, telling him it was all right. "If we don't try to kill them all and just try and get through, we could make it, right?"

"But what if one of us gets bit?" Wanda asked.

"Amputation?" Sam chuckled dryly, but the seriousness in his suggestion still hung in the air.

"If we all work together, stay close, there should be enough of us to watch each other's six."

"And, Bruce is still working on a cure. With any luck, if we have any more, he's gotten closer in the time we've been gone." Peter knew it's only been a day, but he knew from experience 24 hours could result in a lot of things. The thought a finding a cure was crazy, and a long shot, but it gave Peter hope.

"We need to get in." Bucky shook his head as he spoke. "Peter and Harley have family that thinks they're dead, we just raided a supermarket earlier and have food, and Peter's a smart kid. Two people working a a cure would be better than one."

"A cure..." Clint parroted softly before letting out a loud breath. "All right guys, if you all want to storm Stark Tower tomorrow, I say we all get some sleep. Rest up first."

Everyone immediately agreed to that. This new building seemed secure enough. The stairwell was blocked by a door that was able to get locked, the main transportation between floors seemingly being elevator, but since there was no electricity, it didn't work.

Peter sat down in his own small space on the floor near the wall, counting his remaining nail ammo before grabbing a couple of crackers from the box Harley had thrown at him and chewing on them.

"Care to share?" Harley asked and sat down cross-legged next to Peter.

"Yeah, go ahead," Peter said softly, sliding the box over as he picked his nails back up. He was down to 40 out of his original stock of 150 he had found in a hardware store.

"These really are good, you know," Harley spoke softly as he grabbed a couple. "And I didn't just keep some to shut you up. I knew they were your favorites."

"I guess thats sweet. In a way." Then Peter cracked a smile. "You could've been a little more nice about it though."

"Well, you were really irritating me." Peter stayed quiet for a moment.

"I can't believe you." He said softly, staring at Harley through the dark. "How would you ever think I would let you die like that?"

"Peter, I—"

"No! No. You seriously thought I would just leave you to get killed just to save me? Do you realize how much more helpless that would have made me feel? Watching you die because you wanted to save me?"

"Are you... calling me selfless in an angry way?" Harley then held out a hand to stop Peter from speaking. "No, look, Peter you aren't helpless. You never were. You were—still are— reckless. But do you know what you did today?" Peter said nothing. "You stopped me from being a hero by being a hero."

Harley's voice dropped even more, becoming even quieter. If anyone else was listening in, Peter thought no one would be able to hear Harley's whisper.

"You're worth so much more than you think. You have a heart of gold Parker. Sure, you can be stupid sometimes, beauty always has a price," Peter rolled his eyes as he saw Harley begin to smile. "But seriously, you aren't weak. You never were. And you have every right to be mad at me, just like I was mad at you, but think about it this way: it's better to be mad at me and have me here than to be sad and mourning because I wasn't, right?"

"That doesn't change the fact that you were willing to die for me, Harley." Peter breathed out. "I—"

"Because you're worth it." Harly stated firmly. "I would give up my life if it meant you would live, any day."

Peter wasn't sure how to respond to that. His brain blanked, and any anger that was left seemingly disappeared from his body.

"Come on Pete," Harley closed up the cracker box and slid it against the wall before taking Peter's nail gun and his ammo bag from him and placing it next to the snacks. "Let's go to sleep."

Peter allowed Harley to wrap his arm around him as they layed down together. Peter had avoided trying to get physically close to Harley because he wasn't sure if would accept it or not, but now that everything was exposed, he relished in the closeness, not even caring if the others had seen them.

Knowing Harley was right there, Peter situated his head on his arm as the both of them layed down on the cold floor. Maybe they were going to have the fight of their lives tomorrow, but Peter had the after to look forward to. Everyone would be safe. He would be able to see May and Michelle and Ned again. Maybe even relax with Harley by his side. After a year of not knowing if he was going to be alive the next day, that sounded like paradise to Peter.


	7. Chapter 7 | Steve

When Steve woke up, he had already seen Bucky was awake, sitting up next to him, deep in thought. That wasn't so unfamiliar. Even before the apocalypse, Bucky would have trouble sleeping and would wake up before Steve nearly every day. Bucky had been through some terrible things when he was in the army, and while he moved past, sometimes the dreams still got him.

Steve frowned. This past year couldn't have helped him at all either.

"Morning," Steve said softly, making the man turn his head and give him a soft smile. "Hope you weren't up too long,"

"No." Bucky whispered back. "Nah, but Natasha has been up for a while though," he said, and that's when Steve realized that the redhead had been sitting in the windowsill across the room and staring out into the streets.

Steve yawned, sitting up and stretching, watching to make sure he didn't hit Bucky in the process. Steve wasn't sure if he would ever get over the feeling of happiness he got for having Bucky back next to him again. He didn't care if he didn't. Steve learned his lesson. He wasn't ever going to leave Bucky again. It was agony.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Almost seven." Natasha answered, glancing back at Steve. "We should probably let everyone sleep some more. Yesterday took a lot out of us."

"You're sayin'," Bucky mumbled, dragging a hand down his face. "You can go back to sleep Stevie, if you want."

"Not without you," Steve said, still groggy. "I'm fine, really,"

"Still a stubborn punk. Glad that hasn't changed." Bucky smirked and Steve mearly melted at the sight.

"And you're still a teasing jerk."

For another hour and a half, Steve, Bucky, and Natasha had a quiet conversation. She knew the times to let Steve and Bucky talk by themselves, allowing them to begin to catch up, and then when the topic shifted, she chimed in with her thoughts on the best battle strategy.

By the time the others began to wake up, Steve had moved himself so close to Bucky, another inch and he would be sitting on him.

It was weird; if Steve cast away the knowledge of the world around them, he could compare the scene to a giant sleepover, like everyone was back in high school.

Clint passed around the remaining fresh fruit he had as Tony popped open a couple cans of whatever food was closest to expiring first, and sharing threw bottles of Gatorade to try and save as much as they could, everyone talked as they ate breakfast.

"So I say a cirular formation would be best," Steve started to explain. "Laura and the kids could be in the middle, and as we surround them to offer them protection, we'll also be able to watch the people next to us, leave no one side unguarded."

"It'll be some real teamwork," Sam grinned.

"And hopefully, we can make it through with no one getting hurt. We'll really have to work as one unit."

"The main doors would be too dangerous. Even with all of us." Tony said. "When the three of us left, we took a side door. Best bet would be to use that one again."

"Hey Harley?"

"Yeah?"

"You might want to break that shovel down to a more manageable size." Steve said. "The close combat would hinder you with the length. Shorten the staff so it's about the length of your forearm." Steve instructed and Harley nodded his head, standing up, leaving Peter next to him, and grabbing his bloodstained shovel.

As Steve turned to talk to the group again, he heard the sound of wood splintering behind him as Harley slammed the shovel down onto a table. Steve didn't known if it was the table that broke, but he figured if the kid needed help, he would ask.

"This'll work," Steve said encouragingly. "We can do this. We'll get through this."

Weak smiles grew larger as everyone forced themselves to believe that would be the case. Optimistim was key here, and if anyone was good at giving team pep talks, it was Steve.

Everyone had gotten ready. Weapons in hand, food strapped to their backs. And as they stepped outside onto the streets, they immediately got into formation: Laura, Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel in the middle of the group, and the ten of them forming a close circle around them, Steve in the lead with Bucky and Sam by his sides.

Tony directed them to take a less head first route, one that would lead to the side door quicker, and no one questioned him. It was his building after all, he should know it best out of everyone.

The group hadn't run into too many zombies, which was a good thing, because with their size, they were bound to attract a lot. It wasn't safe, traveling with such a large group, but this was only temporary. Only until they got safely inside Stark Tower.

The sun was pretty high in the sky, and Steve thought it had to be getting close to noon if it wasn't already. Peering up into the sky, Steve could see the letters that spelled out STARK getting larger as they got closer to the building. And also closer to the hundreds and hundreds of zombies that surrounded the building.

"Hey guys," Peter's voice rose from the quiet volume of chatter. "Did anyone else see that?"

Steve halted the group. "See what?"

"It looked like people were moving. Like, other people."

"Or a Mutated." Pietro stated darkly, brandishing his blade. Everyone paused, getting ready in case someone, or a zombie, decided to attack.

From both sides of the street, two figures had jumped out from the alleys between buildings and in front of the group. They were humans.

Steve immediately studied them. Both men carried blades. The one with long golden hair held out a large hammer,, ready to swing.. He was big, intimidating. The other had raven black hair, and he held two silver daggers. He was slender and nicely dressed for living in the apocalypse.

"Woah!" Sam exclaimed at the threat. Natasha, Bucky, and Tony raised their guns, but at that moment, the second man launched himself forward and held a silver blade against Wanda's throat, disarming her before she could attempt an attack.

"Oh, come _on_!" Steve heard Harley exclaim, and honestly Steve felt the same. Everyone did. They just couldn't get a break, could they?

"Hey, no one has to get hurt." Steve said quickly, slowly tucking his gun into his waistband to show that he didn't want a fight. He couldn't risk the fight. One movement, and the man with black hair could slit Wanda's throat, and the other could crack Sam's head open.

"I told you they weren't Walkers, brother." The man with black hair spoke, his voice smooth.

Steve bit back the question he wanted to ask. At first glance, he wouldn't have thought the two men were related.

"I didn't think they were," The man with blond hair spoke. They didn't sound related. "I just thought they were endangering our mission."

"Mission?" Natasha questioned.

"To get into Stark Tower."

Everyone went silent. "That's where we're going too, man," Peter sighed, and the two brothers exchanged a look.

"Hey, look, we're trying to get in too. Same team here." Pietro spoke up harridly. "Could you let my sister go?"

"Sam, too." Bucky demanded.

"Lower your guns."

"Count of three." Steve compromised.

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three."

Steve nodded his head, and the three lowered their pistols while at the same time, the two brothers withdrew their weapons. The man with black hair took a step back, allowing Wanda to pick up her knife again. He stayed on guard when his brother seemed to completely ease.

Steve readjusted his grip on the hot glued on handles of his shield. "We're trying to get into Stark Tower too." He repeated. "There's no need for violence."

"Unless you both are murderous psychos who want to kill for fun." Sam quipped. "In that case, maybe letting you into Stark Tower with us wouldn't be the best idea."

"We are just looking for a place to stay." The man with the sword said. "We heard Stark Tower was a sanctuary. We've traveled quite a long way to get here."

"Are you guys really brothers?" Everyone turned their heads to Peter. "What? I'm sorry, but he sounds Australian, and _he_ sounds British!"

"He's adopted." The man with the hammer spoke. His brother just rolled his eyes like that wasn't the first time he's heard it. "I'm Thor. He's Loki."

"Charmed." Tony deadpanned. "Putting strange names aside, can we focus?"

"Right." Steve cleared his throat. "We won't hurt you as long as you promise not to hurt us. We all want to get to the same place, then let's work together."

"What do you want in return?" Loki narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing. Fairness? We're our own little community inside the Tower. We all work together."

"You are from inside the Tower?"

"Yeah," Natasha said, eying Loki suspiciously. "But if you haven't seen, getting back inside is a little harder."

"Ah yes!" Thor boomed. Steve, as well as everyone else except Loki, who seemed to be used to it, cringed at the volume of his voice. "The Walkers! They'll be no problem for us, don't worry!"

"Um, have you seen the amount of zombies out there?" Sam asked. "Do you see how much they outnumber us, even if our group keeps growing?"

"We have fought double the number of the zombies surrounding the Tower on our journey here alone." Loki stated calmly. "With your help however, we shall get inside quicker than we originally had planned."

"So that's that?" Steve asked, trying to catch any tells of lying from either of the men. "Friendly?"

"We would be honored to make new friends, yes." Thor smiled widely. "It's only been us since we had to kill our sister." Steve's eyes widened, and Thor had to have seen the panic that flashed across everyone's faces. "Oh no! She was turned. Don't worry."

"You good with those things?" Clint asked, referring to the hammer and daggers.

"Excellent."

"Well then, welcome aboard."

Steve wasn't entirely trusting just yet, but neither Thor or Loki seemed to be lying about their intentions, no matter how confusing they seemed to be. Briefly informing them of their battle formation, the two brothers fit themselves into the circle, one on either side to have a swordsman.

Thor seemed to be the more socially inviting of the two, cracking jokes to ease the worry of the children as they got nearer to Stark Tower.

Everyone stopped again when they were right in front of their target. Soft growling travelled through the air, and according to Bucky that only meant one thing: the zombies knew they were there.

"Everyone ready?" Steve announced loudly.

A few Mutated snapped their heads to the large group and began to run, alerting the others.

The team advanced steadily and as one unit surprisingly with no training.

Immediately, Thor smashed the head a Mutated masterfully, and Loki beheaded another just as fast with the poise of a trained fighter. Steve was grateful for their help, instantly figuring out that they weren't exaggerating their abilities.

Steve had to force himself to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about everyone else. Bucky and Sam seemed to be keeping the zombies that attacked them at bay, and it would be too risky for Steve to look back and check the status of everyone else.

But by the sounds of gunshots and grunts, it seemed like everyone was holding their own. Which was good, because as slammed the edge of his steel shield into the neck of a zombie in front of him, severing it's head, the group was swallowed. Surrounded in all directions.

The door was three yards in front of them. There was no turning back now.

Slicing, smashing, and gunshots filled the air as well as the grunts of exertion as the team worked as a whole. Steve told himself to swallow down the urge to celebrating early. Just because no one had gotten hurt yet, didn't mean there still wasn't a chance. They weren't out of the rapids yet.

"Keep moving!" Steve shouted even though he knew they probably weren't dwelling in the zombie war.

Another wave pushed forward, and Steve had to switch to his pistol to try and pick off enough zombies so he would have room to move his arm again. He only had fifteen rounds before he had to reload, so he had to make them count.

He head heard Lila shriek and thought the worst so Steve turned around and got resdy to aim, but he saw Clint stab the zombie that had gotten too close to his daughter through the ear with an arrow. He caught Steve's eye and gave him a terse nod before Steve focused back on forging the path for the group to move forward.

"We're here!" Steve yelled, grabbing the door handle and swinging the door open, pushing back the zombies who tried to get in. "Let's go! Run, run!"

The formation parted, and Laura and the kids ran forward into the building.

"Come on!" Steve grabbed Sam, and pushed him in.

He manned the door, making sure everyone went through while holding back the horde from both attacking and getting through.

Bucky refused to leave his side however. He emptied bullets into zombies furiously, and as much as Steve wanted him to get to safety, he was glad he was there and fighting by his side.

Clint had followed behind the twins. Thor was a little battle-crazed, but his brother reminded him of the plan and ushered him inside as well.

Peter and Harley stepped through next, both of them getting one more kill in to help Natasha and Sam.

A large blast of light caught Steve's attention, and then he heard Tony cheering to himself. The man had small curls of smoke wafting from his body, but in his wake he blasted any zombie in a five foot radius before running to the door. He really did have something to defend himself with.

Sam and Natasha fell back, walking backwards towards the door, still emptying bullets into the heads and smashing in the heads of zombies until they were past the threshold.

"Come on Buck!" Steve called just as Bucky had fired his last bullet. Steve was still holding the door open and fighting off any zombie who tried to get in, which was a lot.

The man dashed towards Steve, a foot away and nearly making it to the door.

Time seemed to slow as Steve saw the Mutated grab a hold of Bucky's shoulder and pull him back. Bucky groaned and tried to hit the sickly hand away with his gun, but it still held it's grip.

In a moment of panic and rage, Steve bolted forward and grabbed the wrist of the Mutated, harshly shoving Bucky through the door.

"Steve no!"

Steve tried to hit it with his shield, but he was too close. He wrestled with the Mutated, using all of his strength to try and keep away from its gnashing jaw, but he slipped and groaned in pain as it sunk its teeth into Steve's forearm.

Steve heard Bucky scream again, but someone must've been holding him back because he knew that otherwise he would have came to help.

Steve's hand was slippery from blood and sweat as he held his gun to the Mutated's skull, firing the shot that killed it and splattered black blood all over Steve, but he didn't care.

His arm burned, but he pushed through the pain and stumbled to the door. Bucky tugged him through before Natasha shut the door and locked it behind her.

The pounding of the zombies on the door almost matched the pounding in Steve's head.

Bucky's voice cut in and out as he fell to his knees, a break of sweat formed along his skin, and Steve knew it wasn't from fighting.

A sharp needle like sensation travelled up his arm, and Steve knew what was going to happen next.

"You gotta kill me, Buck,"

Steve had to shut his eyes from the pain, but he knew everyone was standing around him, silent and still from fear. Everyone except Bucky, who was on his knees, holding Steve in his arms.

"No!" He shouted even though they were indoors and it was dead silent save the monsters trying to get in. "No! We'll get you to Bruce! He'll save you!"

Steve knew he didn't have long. For some reason, he was already lasting longer than the man the guard had bit the first day of the apocalypse. That man turned in less than a minute.

But Steve was going on two.

"I love you," Steve choked out, the pain becoming almost unbearable.

"This is _not_ goodbye!" Bucky demanded, slamming his hand on the floor.

Steve went ridged as the worst pain ripped through him, and he saw white. He thought this was it. He was dying. He forced his eyes to open so he could get one last good look at Bucky.

But then the white that clouded his vision slowly disappeared. The pain began to fade and Steve's breathing became normal again.

"Steve?"

After a few moments, Steve got enough strength to sit up. Everyone was staring at him with wild eyes. Shouldn't he have been dead?

Steve glanced at his arm. The bite was there, red and bleeding and irritated. It still hurt like nothing every had before, but then even that was fading to a dull throbbing.

He was okay.

"We need to get him to Bruce." Tony said sternly, his voice wavering slightly from the worry. "Now."


	8. Chapter Eight | Harley

Harley held tight onto Peter as everyone followed Tony and Bucky who were helping Steve walk.

"Bruce!"

" _Bruce!_ "

Both Tony and Natasha shouted.

"Where's Bruce!"

Harley saw people emerge from another room, running out at the return of the trio of their community's with 13 others in tow.

A woman with strawberry-blonde hair rushed forward, and after a second of studying, Harley identified her as Pepper Potts.

"Tony! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Steve's not."

"M'fine," he mumbled and Harley rolled his eyes.

"Where's Bruce?"

"Here. I'm here." A man with black hair stepped forward, nervously wringing his hands. "What- what happened?"

"Steve was bit," there was a collective gasp from the people who weren't there. "But he's not turning. You need to figure out why, _now._ " Bucky ordered, and even though Bruce probably didn't know who he was, he nodded his head rapidly.

Harley gulped as he felt Peter tighten his grip on his hand. "You all right?" He murmered, and Peter just nodded his head. Harley saw that his gaze was focused on the group of people who were living in the tower, and he followed it.

He realized why when he saw the familiar faces of his family. His mother was staring with tears brimming in her eyes as she clutched onto Abigial's shoulders. Harley had seen his sister had grown so much in the year they were seperated, her face thinning and she had shot up at least three inches. He wondered how much he must've changed. He knew his hair was longer, but he never took the time to find a mirror.

Peter's hand slipped out of his, and Harley couldn't blame him. A woman with brown hair just like Peter's raced forward to meet Peter halfway and tightky hug him even if he was disgusting and covered in zombie blood.

"How are you here?" He heard Peter gasp as he pressed his face into her shoulder. Two other teenagers began to step forward, a girl and a boy, and Harley realized they must've been his friends.

"I thought you were here because you weren't at school!" The woman said quickly. "I picked up MJ and Ned because their parents weren't anywhere and we all came to look for you."

Harley felt himself begin to cry from their reunion, but what got him to full on shed tears was when Abigail ran to him.

Harley drooped to his knees and his shovel skidded across the floor as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, smoothing her wild hair as she began to sob into his chest.

"You're here!"

"I'm here,"

Harley saw a shadow cast over him, and looking up, he saw his mother standing in front of him and Abigail.

Standing up, he hugged her too. Harley shut his eyes and enjoyed the embrace as his mother trembled and kissed his cheek.

"I'm okay," he assured her. "We're okay."

The sound of Peter laughing made Harley open his eyes and glance at where they boy was hugging his friends.

"You _smell_ , man."

"You got blood on me!"

"Shut up."

Harley didn't want to leave his family, and Peter seemed to read his mind as he, his aunt, and his friends gravitated towards them.

"You guys seriously need to shower." Abigail said after a minute and the seven of them erupted into laughter.

Looking around, he saw that everyone was settling. The Bartons, Wanda, and Pietro took seats right in the middle of the floor, huddling close together as a man with dark skin sat down to talk to them.

Natasha and Sam were settling on a small couch, Pepper between them and probably asking if they were all right because they both looked exhausted.

Thor and Loki stood in the corner, quietly chatting and peering over the group from a distance. Harley could tell they didn't feel like they fit in.

Bruce, Tony, Steve, and Bucky were nowhere to be seen, but Harley figured they went to some sort of lab.

The backpacks full of food were dumped in the corner, and Harley felt the immediate relief as the weight was removed. Now that he was relaxing and not fighting, he felt just how much he wanted to just lay down and crash. His muscles were tense and his arms hurt, but he also knew that shower would feel amazing. Running water sounded amazing.

Harley propped himself against the wall as he sat, and after a minute, Peter joined him.

"We really do look bad, you know," He said with a small smile. "Disgusting."

"I dunno, I think blood is kinda my look." Harley tilted his head back and closed his eyes. Stark Tower seemed to be the perfect temperature. His skin was pricked with goosebumps from the air conditioning, but that was to be expected. It was definitely better than the hot temperature outside in the summer sun.

"You'd look better without it."

"Oh, so you think I look good?" Harley grinned as Peter laughed sarcastically, trying to mask the way he was getting flushed from the teasing.

"This your boyfriend, Peter?" One of Peter's friends, the girl, sat down on Peter's other side.

"He's—um, Harley, this is MJ."

"Hi," Harley smiled at the greeting. Someone else sat down. Peter's other friend.

"Hey Ned, this is Harley. Peter's boyfriend."

"MJ!"

"Oh. Hey, what's up, man? Nice to meet you." Ned waved and Harley began to laugh as Peter groaned, holding his red face in his hands.

"Nice to know I'm not the only one who finds Peter an open book." Harley smiled as MJ and Ned both shrugged.

"He can't keep a secret for the life of him."

"Peter," Bucky's voice made the boy's head shoot up. Both him and Harley stood instantly, seeing both Bucky and Tony standing in front of them.

"Is Steve—?"

"He's fine." The smile that broke out of Bucky's face sent a surge of relief through Harley. "But we need you."

"What?" Peter blinked.

"Steve's cells seem to be fighting the virus. He's fighting it." Bucky said. "He's the key to the cure. But Bruce can't do it alone."

"Kid, you were the best intern in the chemistry wing. Probably just as smart as the guys I hired if not smarter." Tony chuckled. "How would you like the save the world?"

Peter began to stammer, disbelief filling his features.

"Go, Pete," MJ urged him. Peter glanced over at Harley, and he pushed him gently forward.

"I'll shower and meet you there if you want." He said and Peter nodded.

"Oh yeah, we all should shower first."

"But," Peter started. "What about Steve?"

"He's getting better by the second. Walking, talking, he's just letting Bruce take blood right now, we have time." Bucky assured Peter.

"Save the world," Peter whispered under his breath before following Tony and Bucky. "Come on Harley, I want you in the lab with me."

Watching Peter work was a sight.

Apparently before the apocalypse, the terrorist group Hydra had been storing Stark weapons, and according to Bruce, they were bio-weapons that each carried a deadly pathogen.

It wasn't Stark manufactured, but instead something Hydra created themselves. After extensive and careful studying, Bruce concurred that this pathogen was what started the apocalypse. Hydra must have released it all over the world and started the apocalypse.

But luckily for them at least, they left enough weapons behind for Peter and Bruce to take the original virus and infuse it with a combatant made from Steve's blood.

What used to be bio-weapons, were now harbingers of the cure that could bring humanity back from the brink of extinction.

For the first time in a year, everyone was safe and truly happy. There were a total of 26 of them now, so as everyone sat around, the room was nice and full.

Laughter and smiles were a joy to see, and Harley was grateful he was back with his family. Both blood and the family he gained alike.

"Out of curiosity," Steve took a sip of water as he grabbed everyone's attention. "Can anyone here officiate a wedding?"

That sent a ripple of people shaking their heads through the room until they reached Tony. "I can."

"No way," Bucky said, not believing Tony for a second. Amused, Harley scooted closer to Peter, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as everyone trained their attention on Tony.

"I'm completely serious Barnes," He shifted where he was sittung next to Pepper. "Me and Rhodey were drunk one day, and we thought it would be hilarious to get married. Online, you can get ordained in like ten minutes."

"Wait, so you and Rhodes..."

"Nah, Pep stopped us in time," His wife rolled her eyes. "Which is good, because if not I wouldn't have been able to get married to this goddess. Who would want to get legally divorced from _me,_ come on?"

"I would've divorced you in a split second Tony, don't kid yourself. Pepper, honestly, I don't understand how you still love him."

"He has his days." She smiled and then everyone else turned towards a dumbfounded Steve and Bucky.

"So,"

"I'm not sure how much I want you marrying us, Tony," Steve said slowly, and while Bucky had a conflicted look on his face, he said the opposite.

"You really want to wait any longer?"

"Don't worry Cap, I've married tons of people." Tony boasted.

"You can't be serious."

"Sad thing: he is." Pepper sighed. "You have no idea how much people would pay to get a celebrity at their wedding." Then she smiled. "He's pretty good at it, actually. You guys'll be legally married."

"That's insane."

"What'll it be?"

"Let's have a wedding!"

It all seemed so surreal; a wedding. In the apocalypse.

Everyone pitched in, clearing the floor and cleaning themselves up to look as formal as they could. Naturally, everyone was invited.

"Wanna be my plus one?" Harley felt Peter bump into his side and laughed.

"If that's your way of asking me to be your date, then of course."

"Do you think I'll get in trouble if I sneak food? I'm going though cracker withdrawals." Peter asked, partially joking and Harley just shook his head.

"Part of me wants to tell you to not be an idiot and sneak food into a last minute wedding, but the other part says to go for it because you just helped save the world and should have a free pass at everything from now on." Peter rolled his eyes as he gave Harley a light shove.

Harley wasn’t sure if he was going to get used Peter openly showing his feelings for him after a year of refusing to share them in fear that one day one of them would be gone.

But as Harley helped Peter smuggle a sleeve of crackers into the wedding as everyone stood in rows facing where Steve, Bucky, and Tony were in the front, he couldn't help but to feel like this was how it should be.

"I now pronounce you two gays married,"

"Tony!"

"What? Okay fine." Although everyone was smiling, Steve and Bucky with slight annoyance, Tony cleared his throat. "I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom...or whatever."

Steve and Bucky couldn't care about Tony as the room erupted into cheers as the two of them were officially married. Harley knew they had been waiting a year. They survived the apocalypse and near death experiences. They all did. If Harley remembered correctly, if they waited another day, they could've got married on their set date last year.

Things were only going to get better from here. Soon, they could disperse the cure, and hopefully the world can go back to normal.

It would take a lot of rebuilding, a lot of work, but it would be worth it restarting life. Harley would be able to spend it with Peter, Steve and Bucky could finally start their family.

Clint said that everyone was welcome on his farm whenever they wanted to stop by. But he made sure to remind Tony about the promise he made. Harley was sure he wasn’t going to let Stark forget it either.

This was a start. A new beginning. If they could live through the apocalypse, they could live through anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that this is over (yay!) I probably should hope I can get back on track. I knew I was jinxing it with mentioning the oneshot yesterday 😅


End file.
